February 19, 2004
Utah Valley State (0-0) vs. Mesa State College (7-3)
Location: Grand Junction, Colorado
Date: February 20th (Game 1), 21st (DH: Games 2 &3), 22nd (Game 4)
Times: Game 1: 3:00 pm, Game 2: 12:00pm (DH), Game 4: 12:00 pm
Site: Suplizio Field
Radio: None
Internet Broadcast: None
Series Record: First Meeting
OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley State baseball team will travel to Grand Junction, Colorado to open its 2004 season with a four-game series against Mesa State College. Friday's opening game will start at 3:00 pm, Saturday's doubleheader will start at 12:00 pm, and Sunday's game will also start at 12:00 pm.
The Wolverines were originally supposed to open the 2004 campaign last Monday against Northwest Nazarene University, but the NNU games were cancelled due to bad weather in Nampa, Idaho.
Wolverine Update
Anticipation is high entering the first year of NCAA Division I play. The Wolverines boast a solid Division I schedule playing Pac-10 teams, Oregon State and Washington State as well as in state rivals, BYU and Utah. Coming off a 22-20 overall record in his last year of junior college play, Head Coach Steve Gardner is eager to see what his group of 21 newcomers, including 10 freshman will bring to the table in 2004. Eight players return to suit up for Gardner including six starters (four position players and two pitchers).
Foremost among the veterans are junior RHP Jason Ward and junior 1B Trent Perry. Ward has been stellar during his tenure in a Wolverine uniform. In 104 innings pitched in two seasons, the Second-Team All-Region performer has only given up 12 earned runs. Good for a 1.38 era and a 10-3 record. Last season, Ward went 9-2, striking out 68 hitters with only 7 walks in 60.2 innings pitched. Opposing hitters just managed to scrape out 0.41 runs per nine against the hurler out of Spanish Fork in 2003. Perry is also coming off a nice 2003 season. In a college conference that used wooden bats, Perry hit .321 with a .420 on base percentage in 33 games played. He was handy over at first base only committing 3 errors in almost 200 chances.
Scouting the Opposition
The Mesa State Mavericks improved to 7-3 overall, after winning 3-of-4 games from Western Oregon this past weekend and sweeping a doubleheader from Saint Martin's College on Tuesday. The four game series with the WOU was the home opener for the Mavericks. Joe Dirnberger (.486, 8 2B, 3 HR, 13 RBI) and Trask Munoz (.429, 4 2B, 3 HR, 17 RBI) are the early leaders offensively. Against SMC Dirnberger went 8 for 10 with 5 RBI. Jared Ferrans is 2-0 on the mound with a 0.60 ERA in two starts.
Wolverine Probable Starters
Catcher: Jeff Broadhead
First Base: Trent Perry
Second Base: Ryan K. Jones
Shortstop: Dylan Priest
Third Base: Reno Mendenhall
Left Field: Sam Van Dyken
Center Field: Kevin Hashimoto
Right Field: Jed Jensen
Designated Hitter: Josh Hinckley
Probable Pitching Rotation:
Friday Starter: Jason Ward, RHP
Saturday's Starters: Aaron Tash, RHP and Brady Drake, LHP
Sunday Starter: TBA
On the Road Again
UVSC will play 18 road games before hosting Albertson College for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 30th. The Wolverines will play all their home games at Brigham Young University due to the construction of Parkway Crossing Stadium.
Parkway Crossing Stadium
The future home of Wolverine Baseball will be a long awaited 3.5 million dollar stadium to be built and ready for the 2005 campaign. Parkway Crossing Stadium will have primary grandstand area seating of 2,500. An additional 2,500 fans can throw down blankets on the grass berming down the left field line extending behind the left field wall. The unique design will follow the trend of several of the major league fields that have been constructed recently with different angles and corners down the lines and in the gaps around the outfield wall. The field dimensions will challenge opposing hitters in the gaps expanding to 449 feet in left-center and 413 feet to right-center. The center field wall will be 435 feet away. Directly down the left field line will be 325 feet with a 16-foot wall to contend with, and the short porch directly down the right field line is 307 feet, but immediately gets deeper toward the right-center field gap. The convenient location just off the I-15 will allow baseball fans to enter and exit the stadium quickly. The stadium will also be host to future high school state tournaments and Division I college tournaments and post-season play.
